UPDATED 1:44 P.M.
PEORIA, Ill. – The Peoria Fire Department engine company suspended because of a COVID-19 cut in city expenses, then restored in November, has been cut again temporarily.
Chief Jim Bachman says Engine Company Two, part of Station Eight on West Hurlburt, is being temporarily suspended between Wednesday and at earliest Christmas Day, returning to operation no earlier than the 26th.
“The majority of it was staffing expenses,” Bachman told WMBD News. “If I had to put my finger on one thing, and I hate to blame it because…everybody’s been blaming it for the last year and a half or so, two years now, it’s COVID.”
Bachman says four firefighters have COVID-19 currently, with more in quarantine due to possible exposure, and all those men and women have to be paid, including those who fill in for them, usually on overtime.
The engine company is a part of next year’s city budget, so Bachman says things should be back to normal at latest on New Years Day.
Initially, a city news release cited “unexpected expenses” for the closure, but didn’t specify.
